George Jefferson

At the 0:22 mark, Cedric the Entertainer gives a young man a “George Jefferson” haircut as a form of punishment.

As I walk across the street to go inside the barbershop near Southern Grind, I hear a voice yelling, “Hey, George! George!” I look to see who it is and it is the owner of the shop making fun of my hair. My name is Jerry, but he is calling me George, short for George Jefferson, because most of the hair on top of my head is missing in action.

By now, I have become desensitized to all of the jokes thrown at me. I ignore him and continue walking inside of the barbershop. There my barber has a chair waiting on me. I had called her the night before to setup an appointment.

After five minutes pass by, the owner of the barbershop walks in and greets me with, “How you doing, George?” I correct him by telling him my real name. The joke is not funny to me, just annoying. To me, it’s not a good business practice to make fun of your customer. When the barber finishes my haircut, I handed her $25 and walk out the door with my mind made up to discontinue supporting his business.

It wasn’t always this way. At one point in time, I was able to grow hair on the top of my head. I grew up in the ghetto with hair!

Growing Up With Hair

While living in the projects, my mom would cut my hair to save money. She also talked some other poor souls into paying her money to cut their hair. I remember being disappointed at the result but at least she tried her best, right? In addition to selling candy and Dixie cups, this was another income source for her.

When we moved from that environment, my father started taking me to the barbershop every other week. I fell in love with the barbershop because it was entertaining to hear the conversations that took place. People would talk openly about their everyday struggle, sports, politics,and sometimes even personal finance. No topic was off limits. Plus, I could get a fresh razor line that my classmates at school might envy :-).

Those were the good old days, when I was carefree, had a head full of hair, which remained on top of my head, until my senior year of college.

The Receding Begins

“As many as 85% of men will have some sort of hair loss in their lifetime. It can happen for different reasons.”

My senior year of college is when my closest friends started noticing that my hair was thinning. Being delusional at the time, I told them they were crazy. One of them even made the dire prediction that my hair would be all gone before I reached 25.

By the time I reached 25, I still had a head full of hair but it was thinning grew worse. I could no longer deny the fact that I was experiencing male pattern baldness.

According to a hair loss article on WebMD, as many as 85% of men will have some sort of hair loss in their lifetime, so I am definitely not alone in my struggle.

Instead of letting my hair go, I tried reviving it. I kept hope alive! You got to have a growth mindset, right?

Reviving My Hairline

To revive my hairline, I tried several over the counter products. The two that immediately come to mind are:

Biotin

Shampoo

Biotin

Biotin is a B vitamin that is often recommended to promote healthy hair. I purchased a bottle from Walmart just to test whether it would help my hair grow. After a month of seeing no results, I stopped taking the medicine. It was time to test another product.

Shampoo

The next product I tried was some shampoo that , “For thicker, fuller hair.” I should have know this would not work, but I had nothing to lose. After two weeks of using this shampoo, my hair did not become thicker.

When those two products failed, I discovered something that was guaranteed to work: hair building fibers.

Hair Building Fibers

Transformation

Hair building fibers are used by men and women alike to give the appearance of thicker, fuller hair. According to a description of one of the most popular brands, Toppik, it is “made of natural, colored Keratin protein that is statically charged, toppik fibers intertwine with your existing hair for a completely natural look.”

When I went to my new barber, I requested that he put some of the magical stuff on top of my head. On one particular visit, he took a picture of me to show off his work on Instagram.

While this product work, the dramatic effect only lasted for a couple days. It was a temporary solution to a permanent problem. One I failed to accept. I wasted a lot of dough (gasp, a personal finance nerd wasting money..) being vain.

That’s why after years of trying to fight this male pattern baldness, I have decided to let my receding hairline go and save some dough!

Let it Go and Save Some Dough

This past weekend, I went to the barbershop and told him to cut all my hair off. To save some money, I will try to cut my own hair from now on. I shared this news with my friends and they did not think it was such a great idea.

They are afraid that I will mess my hair up. However, I think that learning to cut your own hair is a lot like learning to ride a bike. Yes, I may suffer some nicks and bruises on my first few attempts, but I will keep trying to improve each time.

This past year I’ve probably spent somewhere close to $600 on haircuts. Purchasing a pair of clippers and razors to cut my own hair should be a lot cheaper. I am estimating that I can save at least $400 annually.

It may allow me to fly to FI faster than I planned. I have already gotten a few tips from my father, who I inherited this male pattern baldness from (thanks dad!).

His tips were:

Stay away from the cheap razors because they will cause plenty of razor bumps

Apply some pure shea butter to your bald head to give it a shiny look

By the way, my father thought this was hilarious. I don’t find it that funny :-).

Closing

As human beings, we often struggle to let go of things we feel emotionally attached to. For me, I was attached to my identity as a person who had hair. I was holding on to something that was not growing. Having an abundant mindset was no match for genetics.

I do not know what you are struggling with. But whatever it is, I want to encourage you to let it go and potentially save some dough.

Inspiration

This post was inspired by Cubert at Abandoned Cubicle who recently wrote: Why You Don’t Need a Hair Transplant. In the article, he shares that he considered getting a $10,000 hair transplant but changed his mind. He let that hairline go to save some dough!

“Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man – there’s your diamond in the rough.”

-Larry David

Community Feedback

What do you struggle with letting go that could potentially save you some dough?

If you are bald, how do you maintain the look? I am looking for some tips!

At what age did your hairline start receding? Did you try to fight it?

Let Your Receding Hairline Go and Save Some Dough 🙂

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Jerry is a Business Insider Contributing Writer who is obsessed with personal finance. He believes you can improve your financial situation by applying principles taught by the financial independence community to your financial life.

If you are having trouble saving, he recommends that you join the SaverLife Savings program where you can get a $60 reward after six months (no income requirement). All you have to do is put a minimum of $20 a month into a savings account. Easy, right?

Thanks for stopping by, Othala! Wow, that’s a long time, Othala! Hopefully I can follow in your footsteps now that I have seen the light. What brand of clippers did you purchase?jobrown2787 recently posted…Let Your Receding Hairline Go and Save Some Dough

My husband has always cut his own hair. I don’t think he’s ever even been in a barber shop. During the period that his baldness was developing, he had been bleaching his hair for years. He (probably delusional) said that he thought his hair thinning was from the years of bleach. I think it became hard to ignore when the temples started receding though.

He was slightly dismayed when he stopped bleaching it to see how bad the situation had become, and promptly started shaving his head. It was a bit of a seinfeldien moment.

Now years later, I WANT TO SHAVE MY HEAD TOO! I’m not going bald as a woman (not yet at least, and it does happen to women too). I’m just cheap and lazy and don’t want to bother with salon cuts.

Husband nixed that. He said it probably wouldn’t serve me professionally, and he does prefer I keep some hair on my head.

But I’m fighting those beauty taxes other ways. I gave up shaving. Suits both my lazy and cheap side.. probably my lazy side more so. And I get to feel like I’m making a counter-culturist statement.

Kudos on letting the hairline go to save some dough! People probably respect a bald guy more than someone who sprinkles “keratinized particles” in their hair too.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Frugal Pharmacist. I agree that vanity is not worth the cost! Hahaha, losing your hair can be a traumatic experience. Like your husband, I was delusional for a while.

Hey George,oops.. I mean Jerry, I have not seen you with a lot of hair but you look good without it. Some people really look bad with no hair but not you and I ain’t bull****ing. I’m not there yet although my hair started thinning a few years ago. I also tried using that fuller hair shampoo. Anyway, you made the right decision, until science found a way to get our hairs back, save your dough and move on.

I like your clean-shaven look! Not everyone can pull that off, but you do it well. I’ve cut my husband and boys’ hair since our oldest was born 13 years ago. Somehow, they’ve all been really happy with the results of my free YouTube haircutting education! And I’ve been super happy with the money we’ve saved.

As a woman about to consider dying her hair because of some stray greys, I can really relate and appreciate this post!!! My mom always cut my hair. Then I started cutting my own hair. I have always spent ZERO money on my hair (besides the cost of washing it). The thought of dropping $150 on a nice dye job on my way to FI seems insane.